Spring in Los Angeles

May 22, 2017

Spring 2017 in Los Angeles is brimming with new and exciting museum shows, gallery exhibitions, and the opening of a new private museum, the Marciano Foundation. Read below for notable offerings of the season:

The Marciano Art FoundationThe Marciano Art Foundation, based in Los Angeles, was established by Guess co-founders Paul and Maurice Marciano and is set to open in their permanent exhibition space on May 25, 2017. The collection includes nearly 1,500 works of art spanning a wide range of media by artists both established and emerging, including Takashi Murakami, Christopher Wool, Sterling Ruby, Analia Saban and Mike Kelly. Housed in what was originally a Scottish Rite Masonic Temple built in 1961, the building has been repurposed and renovated by Kulapat Yantrasast of wHY Architecture and Design, to create a space for engagement with contemporary art, while still maintaining the integrity of the historic temple.

GALLERIES

POWER at Sprüth MagersPOWER, a group exhibition curated by Todd Levin, includes works by African American women artists spanning from the nineteenth century to the present day and is on view at Sprüth Magers through June 10, 2017. The exhibition includes LaToya Ruby Frazier, Carrie Mae Weems, and Lorna Simpson, and demonstrates how African American women artists have consistently explored issues of gender, race, and class in a world of evolving cultural and artistic landscape.

Rebecca Warren at Matthew MarksIn her first-ever solo-exhibition at Matthew Marks in Los Angeles, British artist Rebecca Warren presents new sculptural works on view at both gallery spaces on Santa Monica Boulevard and North Orange Grove. The two locations are showcasing thematically different works, North Orange Grove gallery consisting of hand-painted bronze sculptures depicting the human form, while the works at Santa Monica Boulevard are far more abstract and are composed of sheets of solid steel that Warren systematically welded together. Make sure to visit both gallery locations before the closing on June 17, 2017.

Lesley Vance at David Kordansky GalleryOn view at David Kordansky Gallery is an exhibition entitled 12 Paintings, featuring new works by artist Lesley Vance. The paintings share the same dimensions and vertical format, allowing the artist to focus primarily on the rendering of internal shapes and calculated utilization of bold color. The overlapping and weaving of forms in Vance’s body of work demonstrates her ability to explore the relationship between space, depth, perspective, and viewer experience. Féminaire, featuring works by Mai-Thu Perret will also be on view through July 1, 2017.

Kerry James Marshall at MOCAKerry James Marshall: Mastry, the first major retrospective in the United States of painter Kerry James Marshall’s career of 35 years, is on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) through July 3, 2017. Through his representational and figurative paintings, Marshall has established an extraordinary body of work focused on the importance of establishing a sense of equality, humanity, and belonging among the African American community and beyond.

Carl Andre, Cathie Opie, and Sterling Ruby at Geffen Contemporary at MOCACarl Andre: Sculpture as Place, 1958-2010 is an exhibition spanning the entirety of the this important minimalist artist’s career. Also on view is Selections From the Permanent Collection: Catherine Opie and Sterling Ruby, which consists of two new acquisitions to the Geffen Contemporary permanent collection. Both Sterling Ruby’s large-scale installation of stuffed fabric sculptures and Catherine Opie’s 33-photograph InaugurationPortfolio, are concerned with issues of politics both historical and present, as well as the notion of ‘National Pride.’ Visit Permanent Collection before it closes on June 12, 2017.

White Snow Head (2012-13), a sculpture by artist Paul McCarthy is composed of fiberglass, silicone and steel, and is one of nearly 1,500 artworks included in the collection of the Marciano Foundation. Image courtesy of the Marciano Foundation.

Installation view of Power, an exhibition on display at Spruth Magers, Los Angeles, featuring works by female African American artists from the 19th century to present day. Photo courtesy of Spruth Magers.

Installation view of new sculptures by Rebecca Warren on view at Matthew Marks Gallery through June 17, 2017. Photo courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery.

"Untitled (2017)" by Lesley Vance is included in 12 Paintings
which opened yesterday, May 19th, at David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery.

Installation view of Kerry James Marshall: Mastry on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) through July 3, 2017.

Installation view of Selections from the Permanent Collection: Catherine Opie and Sterling Ruby, on view at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA through June 12, 2017. Photo courtesy of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

"Living Sculpture (1966)" by Marisa Merz is included in Marisa Merz: The Sky is a Great Space opening at Hammer Museum on June 4, 2017.
Photo courtesy of Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.